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Florida Football Recruiting Weekly Roundup: Josh Outlaw, Rod Johnson Keeping Options Open

By LanceDavis
(Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
(Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
Getty Images

News and notes from the week in Florida recruiting.

-- Should Florida fans be concerned about losing commitments from offensive linemen Josh Outlaw and Rod Johnson? They say no, but intend on taking visits.

More after the jump.

So don't be worried, Florida fans. They're committed but want to keep their recruitments open. This gets into the whole muddled verbiage of recruiting vernacular, a topic that deserves its own 2,000-word post.

Outlaw, an offensive lineman out of Lithonia, Ga., attended UGA's Dawg Night over the weekend. In an interview with Chris Hays of the Orlando Sentinel, Outlaw detailed the level of his commitment to Florida (more of that recruiting verbiage...):

"I don't think [head coach Will Muschamp] has too much of a problem with it. I know it's Georgia, but I don't think it's a problem, said Outlaw, who committed to the Gators while at the Florida Orange and Blue spring game. "I'm still pretty solid right now. I'd say about 80-85 percent. I'm still looking around."

That's comforting.

I think back to the time I interviewed Chase Hounshell (who was a UF commit at the time) about his status with the Gators. He committed to UF while Urban Meyer was the coach, and after Will Muschamp was hired things got interesting. Still, in the interview, he told me he was 80 percent committed to Florida.

He's suiting up for Notre Dame in the fall.

Sure, the circumstances are completely different for Outlaw and Hounshell. But the point is that the whole "committed but looking" stance is far from a player being locked in.

Both Outlaw and Johnson plan on attending Florida's Friday Night Lights camp, so there's a good chance their commitments will solidify. But it'll be something to watch over the months leading to Signing Day.

-- Florida was hit with a Derrick-Henry-to-UGA-sized haymaker a few days ago when 2014 linebacker Kain Daub out of Nease High School (TEBOW!) committed to LSU. Daub was in Gainesville for Florida's spring game and nearly committed to the Gators then. He's one of the top linebackers in the 2014 class (rated a five-star prospect by 247Sports). And much like when believed-to-be-UF-lean Derrick Henry committed to UGA about a year ago, Daub's commitment caught many by surprise.

The above tweet? My thoughts exactly.

-- Last week, five-star cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III named USC his leader. He did a mini West Coast tour after 'The Opening,' and now he's touring a handful of schools across the South, making stops at Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Clemson and Georgia. No visit to Florida any time soon, but he recently spoke with Muschamp on the phone, so there's that.

USC and Florida seem to be sharing the driver's seat for now. It could be a two-team battle till the end. It would be easy to assume UF would have the advantage, considering USC is on the other side of the country, but, well, Nelson Agholor didn't seem to have a problem with it.

Current Gators and commits are heavily recruiting VHIII, though.

VHIII won't be at Florida's Friday Night Lights, but there will be plenty of opportunities for the Tampa prospect to make the trip to Gainesville.